FIFTH YEAR STUDENT Seán O’Sullivan from Coláiste Chiaráin has won this year’s BT Young Scientists Award.

The 17-year-old from Limerick scooped the top prize with his project VerifyMe: A new approach to authorship attribution in the post-ChatGPT era.

“The judges were hugely impressed by Sean’s innovative approach to addressing a problem that has only recently emerged and his programming skills in architecting a complex software solution,” Chair of the Technology Group Judging Panel, Leonard Hobbs said.

Seán is the 60th recipient of the highly coveted trophy, and the top prize of €7,500. He will now also represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists taking place later this year in the European City for Science 2024 – Katowice, Poland. 

Speaking at the awards ceremony this evening, Minister for Education Norma Foley congratulated Seán and his school for the “tremendous achievement”. 

“His win is testament to his hard work and dedication and the unwavering support of his family, teachers and school,” she said.

“Meeting students exhibiting projects this week and witnessing the innovation, creativity and attention to detail which they have applied to their research has been a great honour.

“The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition continues to demonstrate the breadth of what’s possible in our world when open and inquiring minds ask questions and explore new opportunities and solutions.”

The Minister said she is committed to promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in schools.

Philippa McIntosh aged 16, and in fourth year in Bandon Grammar School in Cork, won the prize for Individual Runner-Up, with her project Beyond Numbers: The textual challenge of Junior Cycle maths for Dyslexic Students.

Abigail O’Brien Murray, Erica O’Brien Murray and Olivia O’Shea, all aged 18, and in sixth year in Loreto Secondary School Balbriggan in Dublin, won the prize for Best Group, with their project, Let’s Save the Common Ash!: A Continued Story. This is the second year this project has been recognised at the exhibition having previously been awarded Runner-up Group in 2023.

The competition is sponsored by BT, a communications services company.

Shay Walsh, Managing Director of BT Ireland, who presented Seán with his award today, said: “I have been lucky enough to be involved in the exhibition for almost a quarter of a century, since BT first became custodians.

“Being able to see first-hand the creativity and innovation of Ireland’s future leaders has been a real privilege.

“This year’s competition has been no exception with projects seeking to address real-world issues involving AI, health, and sustainability to name but a few.”